The Fighter
by Jass17
Summary: First FanFiction ever so please be nice! Life is lovely for the Fantastic Four, but what happens when Johnny's world begins to fall apart? Set after both Fantastic Four movies, storyline will change. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

THE fighter

Written by Abigail D'Almeida

**Note: This is my very first FanFiction so please be nice! This story is set after both Fantastic Four movies so storyline will change. Enjoy!**

"Johnny! Get out of bed, it's really late!" Susan Storm yelled while simultaneously banging her fists on the other side of her Brother Johnny's bedroom door. In truth, it was only 9:30 in the morning but that was like noon to Johnny, since he was always up by at least 7:00, 7:30 latest.

_It had been over a year since the Fantastic Four were needed to defend the Earth meaning a lot had changed- Ben and Alicia are now a happily married couple and have recently moved to California. Sue, Reed and Johnny all moved out of the Baxter Building and have been living in a lovely and quite spacious flat in downtown New York. Johnny is now a proud owner of a German shepherd named Sammy- cheesy and common but he loves it._

Johnny didn't reply, though Sammy did and ran up to the door and started clawing at it, trying to get it open from the other side. Sue chuckled slightly, that dog was pretty smart, maybe even smarter than Johnny himself, okay probably not but still. She was about to kick the door down when she heard footsteps walking towards the door followed by the clicking and opening of the door to reveal none other than Jonathan Storm, a very tired-looking, seemingly on the verge of passing out Jonathan Storm but at least he was out of bed.

"Wow, you look terrible!" the older Storm exclaimed, her voice full of concern and amusement at the same time.

"Gee, I love you too Sis" he replied with a surprisingly weak voice.

"Sorry, but what happened to you? You look like you got run over by a car, dumped in a pool of electric eels and then got run over by another car on the way out"

"Lovely description, now if you don't mind, I'll be going back to bed now"

The young man then turned and started walking towards his queen-size bed, Sammy following close behind.

"Oh, no you don't mister, even Reed's up already!" she stated, grabbing her brother's arm, making him stumble slightly and turn around.

"Can't I just sleep in for once? It's a Saturday!"

Only then did Sue notice the tiredness in his eyes which were surrounded by dark circles, something was wrong, though she didn't know what.

"Did you have another nightmare?" she asked, still keeping a tight grip on Johnny's wrist

"Don't I always?" was the simple reply she got from him before he was able to free himself from her grasp, walk back towards his bed and collapse onto the dishevelled covers, taking no notice of Sammy as he jumped in with him.

Not wanting her brother to feel unsafe in the place he called home, she slowly walked towards him and sat down on the edge of his bed. When she noticed his uneven breathing, she rested a hand on his head and gently brushed his blonde hair.

"Want to talk about it?" her voice came as a soft whisper.

The younger Storm mumbled something incoherent and sunk deeper into his pillow, shifting them slightly to reveal a small white object that he had kept hidden until then. His inhaler. Johnny had been suffering from asthma since he was a small child and had experienced severe attacks that landed him in the hospital for days. Had his nightmares been so bad so as to send him into an asthma attack?

"Johnny, what happened to you last night?" She demanded but got no reply in return. "Johnny, look at me!"

She then grabbed his arm roughly, trying to get him to look at her but to no avail. Deciding this wasn't going to be easy, she kneeled by his side and carefully pealed back his hands to reveal the tears that shattered her heart immediately.

"Leave me alone Susie, just leave" came his now shaky voice

"Not until you tell me what happened last night" was her rather stubborn response.

"What do you want me to say?!" his voice rose slightly as he sat up sharply. "I see them Susie, I see them dying over and over again and it won't stop. I wake up screaming every night and I can't sleep after that, I can't coz if I do I'll see them again, I always do. I can't take it anymore but I can't tell anyone coz you guys are gonna think I'm out of my mind and send me to therapy _again! _" His voice cracked at the end. "I wake up and I can't breathe, no matter how much I try to calm myself down. Is that what you wanted Sue? Happy now?"

Johnny seemed like he couldn't breathe now either, his slight gasps for air were like multiple knives being stabbed into Sue each time. Even though she would hear about this later, she held his inhaler to his mouth and pressed the button once, then twice and a third time until her brother's breathing slowed. Worn out and slightly light-headed, Johnny's head fell against her shoulder, despite the height difference.

"You okay now?" she asked quietly

"I'm an asthmatic 23 year old who just had two attacks in a row and now feels like absolute crap that has been run over by a car, dumped in a pool of electric eels and then run over by another car on the way out, I feel fine really. And yourself?" he replied with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"I'm the sister of an asthmatic 23 year old who just had two attacks in a row and has managed to scare the living daylights out of me in the space of 5 minutes, so ya, pretty good I suppose"

At that exact moment, Sammy decided to jump on both of the Storm siblings, making Sue exclaim in surprise and Johnny fall of the bed. The canine was delighted at this accomplishment and jumped of the bed, onto Johnny and walked calmly out of the room, probably to see how he could bother Reed.

"Stupid Dog" Well, actually he chose a more colourful range of vocabulary and earned a slap from his sister. "Ouch"

"You alright down there Johnny?" Sue asked, peering down at his limp form worriedly. "Johnny?"

"Hey, Susie? You think you could maybe help me up?"


	2. Chapter 2

It had taken almost an hour to get Johnny's butt out of bed and even then he ended up sprawled out on the living room couch with Sammy lying on the floor next to him.

"Come on, Johnny, you have to eat something!" Sue exclaimed for what was at least the hundredth time in 10 minutes. "Don't make me get Reed!"

Johnny coughed a few times before rolling onto his back to look up at his concerned sister and said with an amused expression plastered on his face.

"If Reed wasn't the dork he is, I may have been slightly intimidated by that comment"

"Intimidated by what?" Reed questioned as he strode into the room, fingers jabbing at his cell phone in a very disturbing way that even Ben was creeped out by. "Wow, Johnny, you look terrible!" he then exclaimed, nearly dropping it.

"Is 'Hi' even in your *cough, cough* vocabulary?!" The young man said, slightly annoyed at the fact that both of them had said the exact same thing.

"What happened?" Mr Fantastic asked, looking at Johnny closely.

"Well, I had an asthma attack in the middle of the night, went back to sleep, woke up feeling like absolute crap, had another asthma attack and now I'm here" He replied, beginning to feel awkward at the amount of attention he was getting right now.

"I've been trying to get him to eat something, but as always, Johnny Storm is being a stubborn little boy" Sue put in teasingly.

"You guys worry too mu-" Johnny began but stopped suddenly and bolted towards the bathroom, Sue, Reed and Sammy following closely behind.

The youngest of the three spent the next 5 minutes puking his guts out which to be honest made Reed feel slightly queasy and want to throw up himself. After Johnny was done, he washed his mouth and slowly made his way back to the living room under the watchful eyes of Reed and Sue.

When he finally ate something, Johnny went back to his bedroom with the help of his sister who returned shortly after to join her Husband who was staring out of the window, concern for her little brother written all over his face.

"You okay?" Sue asked softly, guiding her Husband to the couch.

"I'm fine, it's Johnny I'm worried about. Sue, it might be more serious than we think, his body temperature should burn off any bacteria or viruses that could make him sick"

"Should we take him to the hospital?"

"It's too early for that. If his condition worsens, then we will, but for now we'll have to see how things play out"

The faint sounds of Johnny's coughs could be heard from where they were, making both of them wince. Trying to ignore it, Sue cuddled up next to Reed who wrapped an arm around her shoulders, kissing her forehead gently.

"Why does it always have to be him? Out of all of us, bad things only happen to him. Remember that time when we were all practising in the gym?" The Invisible Woman said, trying to break the silence that had formed.

"You fired a shot at Ben and it ended up whirling Johnny straight out the window. I remember seeing his face when he got back – priceless" Reed recalled, chuckling slightly.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but I actually miss it"

"What?"

"I miss fighting crime, catching criminals, saving the Earth. I miss when we were all together, now Ben and Alicia have moved to California, Johnny might want to move out, settle down with someone, and start a family. You and I will have to eventually"

"Sue, it's not like we'll never see each other again, Ben and Alicia will come and visit, Johnny would never abandon you and I'll always be right here with you"

"To think we were having the exact opposite of this conversation last year"

"To think you guys were gonna leave me alone with Pebbles" came Johnny's weak-sounding voice, making them turn around to see the young man leaning against the wall for support while watching them carefully.

Immediately, Sue sat up, walked up to her baby brother and began lecturing him on why he should be in bed resting instead of walking around and spying on people. Her annoyance turned into deep concern when Johnny's legs suddenly gave out, allowing him to fall only to be caught by his sister and Reed who had come to his side shortly after noticing how pale he had become.

"Take it easy, Johnny" Reed said while he and Sue guided him to the couch.

"You know how boring it is just lying in *cough, cough* bed all day with nothing to do?" He replied

"You're sick Johnny; you need to rest until you get better" The older Storm put in, taking his hand in hers but pulling away when she felt the intense warmth of his skin. "You're hot!"

"Thanks Sis, you're not too bad yourself"

"No, I mean you're running a fever, Reed could you get a thermometer please?'

"I'm fine, Susie. Nothing's wrong with *cough, cough* me, just a little case of the flu…I hope"

When Reed came back with a thermometer, Johnny popped it into his mouth and they all waited until it beeped which unfortunately took longer than expected. After waiting for around 2 minutes, it finally beeped and showed that the young man was indeed running a very high fever of 300 degrees, almost 100 more than his usual temperature.

"That's it, I'm taking you to the hospital right now" Sue declared, surprised to hear no protests coming from her brother.

Turning around, she saw the suddenly blank expression Johnny wore before his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed without warning, seizing violently. Without a moment's hesitation, they were at his side, Reed barking orders and Sue following them.

"Hold his head; I'll get his arms and legs. Careful, don't restrain him" Reed continued to say while keeping a close eye on his brother-in-law.

To Sue's horror, Johnny had started coughing up blood, which didn't go unnoticed by Reed either. Both Johnny and Reed knew of her fear of blood and her previous efforts to stay as far away from it as possible, to have to look at her own brother coughing it up would probably haunt her for the rest of her life. Carefully, they turned the young man onto his side so he didn't choke on his own blood that now covered the side of his face.

"_Why does it always have to be him?" _ She thought to herself.


	3. Chapter 3

"Sue, call 911, he's stopped breathing!" Reed shouted, performing CPR to her now limp brother. "Come on Johnny, stay with me!"

She called them immediately, talking to the dispatcher in a voice filled with panic and fear. Her brother had been fine just yesterday, completely normal and happy, or at least that was what it had looked like. Paramedics arrived around five minutes later and immediately brought out a defibrillator and applied the paddles to Johnny's unmoving chest, sending volts of electricity through his body and heart. Only after four tries did his heart rate pick up once again, allowing the paramedics to lift him onto a gurney and whisk him away from Sue, Reed and Sammy who was probably confused at why his master was being taken from him.

As they came to terms with the events that had occurred, Sue and Reed collected their things and sprinted out of their apartment, making sure that Sammy had enough food and water in his cage to last him until they returned.

As soon as the pair reached the hospital, they were enveloped by reporters, cameramen and journalists who clearly didn't know the meaning of privacy. Sue was very close to flinging a certain reporter across the parking lot when they said something about her baby brother that was completely out of line and downright rude. Reed had noticed this and quickly pulled his Wife through the hospital doors before she could do something that she would definitely regret later.

"Did a Jonathan Storm just arrive?" Reed asked the elderly receptionist who didn't seem too fazed at the fact that Mr Fantastic was talking to her.

She had informed them that since the arrival of the couple had caused all the reporters to crowd around that part of the building, the ambulance carrying Johnny had managed to sneak round to the emergency entrance without anyone noticing. Grateful that Johnny could get the care he needed and not be under the watchful eye of the brutal reporters of New York, they walked towards the waiting room and sat in the not-so-comfortable chairs.

"I hope he's alright…" Sue said after around fifteen minutes of silence, getting Reed's attention.

"He will be, remember, this is Johnny we're talking about here. He'll pull through and be out of this place in no time, you wait and see" His kind words seemed to not only be to reassure her, but himself too.

"He was completely fine yesterday, his usual obnoxious self and now… What do you think could have happened to him?"

"I don't know, but I hope it's not something serious"

"He's…He's all I have left Reed, I can't risk losing him"

Reed wrapped his arm around her shoulders protectively in an effort to comfort her. Tears had begun to form but Sue refused to let them fall as she moved closer to the man she was proud to call her Husband.

"_My two boys"_ She thought, "_One sick, one healthy…"_

The two sat in that position for another twenty minutes before a doctor who introduced herself as Dr Joanna Smith. She seemed to be in her late thirties to early forties and had a small, sad smile on her face, her eyes looked as if they had seen too much in the time she had worked at the hospital.

"Hello Dr Richards, Ms Storm, I am, as you probably guessed Mr Storm's doctor and shall start off with saying that he is in a stable condition as of now…" Dr Smith started.

"Thank Goodness!" Sue sighed in relief at this piece of news, unaware of what was to come.

"Though I must inform you of something that will take some time to comprehend" She went on.

"What is it?" Reed asked, curious to as what had caused this sudden change of events earlier in the day.

"I understand that Mr Storm is suffering from severe asthma and regret to inform you that after running some tests, he has been diagnosed with small cell lung cancer – extensive stage"

The silence in the waiting room was so clear that one could literally hear a pin drop. Reed had just walked away from the two; probably trying to process the information he had just been given. Sue had a completely and utterly unreadable expression on her face, a possible mixture of confusion, hurt, anger, sadness and a whole lot of other emotions that were flaring in the young woman's eyes.

"C-Cancer? Extensive stage? How…?" She was at a loss for words, how could her baby brother have cancer?

"I'm very sorry, Ms Storm. I truly wish I had better news to bring your family…" Dr Smith trailed off.

"Can we see him?" Reed asked suddenly, joining them once again.

"Of course, he is probably still resting though. His appearance may be slightly different than you're used to, so be prepared" the Dr replied, leading the way to Johnny's room.

The walk seemed to last an eternity before they stopped outside Johnny's room, number 407. Even all the time in the world couldn't have prepared them for what waited on the other side of those doors. Johnny's pale form lay peacefully on a giant-in-comparison hospital bed and was covered from the waist down in pristine white sheets. Two more things that caught their eyes was the IV attached to his left hand and the oxygen tube that was currently helping the young man breathe properly. Neither of them noticed the doctor leaving the room as all their attention was pointed at Johnny. Sue immediately ran over to her little brother's bedside, tears running down her cheeks. Reed took a few more seconds before he too sat beside his brother-in-law. Only then did it occur to him that they hadn't told Ben or Alicia about it yet and quietly excused himself and dialled the familiar number. The Storm siblings were then left on their own, Sue holding Johnny's hand in hers and praying silently.

"I love you, Johnny" were the four words she whispered.


	4. Chapter 4

More than an hour had passed and Johnny still showed no sign of movement whatsoever, which scared Sue and Reed ever so slightly. After Reed had finished his call with Ben, more like finished being yelled at by Ben because no one told him that 'Matchstick' was sick, he had returned to his place beside his brother-in-law. Nurses had come and gone during the time, checking Johnny's heart monitor, giving him more medication that had names no one could pronounce, various things that he knew Sue had blatantly ignored by the looks of it. How much she loved her younger brother, even Reed could not understand. He had been told all about the Storm sibling's childhood and how the two were practically inseparable at the time, and still are, though they don't show it that often in public. Her love for Johnny was by far greater than her love for him; he didn't have to be a genius to figure that one out. It was of course a different kind of love, but love all the same. What Sue would do if her baby brother lost his battle with cancer, only God knew.

"I've never seen him so…still," Sue whispered suddenly, bringing Reed out of his thoughts, "All his life, Johnny's been on the move, couldn't keep him still for more than two minutes"

"He'll wake up soon enough, Sue, don't you worry,"

As if on cue, the man known as the Human Torch shifted slightly, turning his head towards his sister, making her pause for a moment before reaching out and gently running a hand through his hair in an effort to bring him out of his sleep. Eventually, it worked; Johnny managed to open his eyes to reveal his soft blue irises, their sparkle no longer apparent. After adjusting to the harsh light of his hospital room, his eyes darted to where his sister sat and then to where Reed was.

"Hey Johnny, it's only us," Sue said in a calm tone and signalled for Reed to go get the Doctor, "How you feeling?"

After coughing a couple of times to clear his throat, the young man spoke.

"Okay…I guess. Y-You know other t-than the *cough, cough* obvious" Sue frowned slightly at the reference to her brother's illness but quickly recovered and replaced it with a smile.

"You know, you gave us all quite the scare," Johnny smiled at her soft words.

"W-Well someone had to d-do it and Reed's t-too *cough, cough* chicken" That made a more genuine smile make itself known upon Sue's face

"Just promise not to do it again or Ben might come down here just to kill you" Sue threatened jokingly.

"H-Hey, I'm s-sick remember, you guys…h-have to be nice to me from n-now on" Johnny put on his best pout afterwards.

"Already using your innocence against others I see" Johnny visibly nearly jumped out of his skin at the Doctor's voice "Rather jumpy are we…?"

"Today hasn't b-been one of m-my best d-days"

"Well, I'm just here to do a quick check up on you and a nurse will be round shortly to collect another blood sample"

The couple watched silently as Dr Smith performed simple tests on their beloved family member before giving them a small but genuine smile as if to say "Everything's alright" and leaving with a slight click of the door.

Once they both were seated more or less comfortably, the threesome began talking, making small talk for old times' sake until Johnny's eyelids began drooping, a clear indication that the young man needed rest. After Reed left the room once more to pick up something for him and Sue to eat and after Sue finished adjusting Johnny's pillows, much to his dismay, the Human Torch finally let his eyelids slide shut.

"Love you Susie…" Johnny's almost incoherent voice said before he slipped into a peaceful sleep.

"Love you too Johnny" she replied after kissing him on the forehead ever so gently

The young woman was then left to her thoughts with her brother's almost non-existent wheezing in the background.

**Terribly sorry for the tremendously long wait and sucky, short chapter above. Please R&R! **

5:00


End file.
